The present invention relates to neurology and pharmacology, and more specifically to drug treatments that can prevent or reduce the brain damage caused by Alzheimer's disease.
The following Background sections provide introductory information on (1) neurotransmitter receptors in the brain; (2) mechanisms by which these transmitter and receptor systems may contribute to neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer's disease; and (3) certain types of drugs that can be used to prevent or reduce neuronal degeneration in patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The following Background sections are not strictly limited to prior art. The extremely complex (and apparently contradictory and paradoxical) neurological systems and processes involved in Alzheimer's disease have stubbornly confounded the efforts of literally thousands of highly skilled researchers and physicians, for decades. Accordingly, the following narrative is an effort to explain, as clearly and logically as possible, what is happening inside the brain of someone suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and how various neurological networks interact with each other in apparently paradoxical ways. Substantial parts of this explanation come from the Applicants' recent research discoveries. Because some of these recent discoveries involve neurological processes that occur naturally, inside the brain, they are discussed in the Background narrative. However, these recent discoveries by the Applicants should not be regarded as prior art.